400lb Magazine

Dateline Jan 4th, 2011, 7:15 AM
"Hey Gary, my glasses broke. If anybody asks, I went home to get my extra pair. I'll be back." I had been thinking about my eye glasses breaking for a while now, but the only ones I can find were my first pair. I knew I had better ones, but where?  What cluttered up my room the most was 26 years worth of magazines. How does someone collect that many magazines? Well, I'll tell ya how.

Back when I was ten my family would buy groceries at Ken's Super Valu. My dad had been talking about buying a 3 or 4 wheeler. Ken's had a magazine rack where I found 3&4 Wheel Action magazine. It was the Feb 1985 issue, and on the cover a yellow four wheeler was jumping over 3 three wheelers. That four wheeler was the new Suzuki QuadRacer. I wanted a subcription so my mom wrote a check and sent it in. I couldn't wait to get my first magazine in the mail.

Now a month later, I saw the Mar 85 issue was in. I picked it up, looked at the cover, and put it down. "I am getting it in the mail, so I'm going to wait." This issue had an orange four wheeler sliding thru the snow. It was the new Suzuki QuadSport. My first magazine finally came, but it wasn't the QuadSport isssue. It was the april issue with the new Honda 350X three wheeler. I figured I can go back to Ken's and get it. When I finally got back to the store, the march issue was gone. I asked where it was and was told it was replaced with this one. The one I already got.

I waited anxiously every month for my new 3&4 Wheel Action magazine. Whenever a new issue would come in I would throw away the old one. I badly wanted that march issue. I HAD IT IN MY HANDS! I noticed that the magazine had an ad for back issues. When I got the Sep 85 issue, I decided I was going to order that issue. I found the ad and next to the issue was the words, SOLD OUT. Can you imagine how a 11 year old would feel? I was devastated. I was throwing away every issue. So I made the decision that I would never throw away magazine ever again. 1985 was also the year I saw my first Radio Contol Car Action magazine. I started keeping those too. If your wondering my dad did buy a 4 wheeler that summer. It was a Suzuki 125 QuadRunner.

The next day I started the task of sorting through the magazines. Two days later they were in tow piles, keepers & recyclers. Friday I packed the recylers into my Ford Explorer and headed for the recycling plant. The plant was paying a penny a pound, and the magazines weighed 169 lbs. So I get a whopping $1.69, what a deal. I kept a little over half of them so I figure I had about 400 lbs of magazines. Can you see how one magazine can turn into 400 pounds.

If anybody has the March 1985 issue of 3&4 Wheel Action magazine, can I look at it. Oh by the way, I did find two more pairs of eye glasses, and you guessed it. One pair broke.